To test slow networks on other devices, such as phones, tablets, and your colleagues’ computers, you may want to look into the command-line tool Throttle.

Designers & Product Managers

Please don’t think that worrying about speed is someone else’s job. As a designer or product manager, the entire experience is your responsibility, and the choices you make can affect performance at least as much as a developer’s.

You can also ask your favorite command-line-literate collaborator or QA engineer to set up the aforementioned Throttle so that you can empathize from any device you please.

Process

A suggestion: Do not ship new features or redesigns until they have been tested on slow networks. Make it a rule.

A final quote

Brad Frost has been quoted as saying, “Ultimately, performance is about respect.”

I love that. Use your new empathic powers to gain respect for your customers and visitors today.

Animation based upon a photo by beccaplusmolly, originally entitled “grouchy slow internet face: james getting impatient…”, used and remixed with permission. (Thanks!) ↩︎